Lots of Amels in the Canary Islands!

Marina Lanzarote was so nice and luxurious that we stayed there a full month.  This was a nice island and a great place to relax.  Although had we known how inexpensive were the marinas in Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria maybe we would have left a little sooner.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that the rate at Gran Tarajal Marina on Fuerteventura was only 20 euro per night for 16-meter BeBe.  And 3 nights at the Muelle Deportivo de Las Palmas on Gran Canaria cost only 48 euro!!  No wonder that marina stays so full!

Before departing Marina Lanzarote I walked the docks one day and took photos of all the Amels.  There were more Amels berthed there at one time than we have seen anywhere in the world except at the Amel service center in the Caribbean.  

Kandiba, an Amel 55

Docked next to BeBe was a beautiful USA flagged Amel 55 named Kandiba, owned by Hassan and Zehrya from Turkey.  Their lovely niece Fatma has joined them as crew and will cross the Atlantic with them next month. Fatma holds a degree in fashion design and is taking a year off to learn sailing before pursuing a career.  This is a great opportunity for her to travel; I wish her all good things in the coming years.

Seraphine, Super Maramu

Across the dock from BeBe was Seraphine, a Super Maramu hailing from Weisbaden, owned by Hajo and Julia.  We last met up with them in Fethiye, Turkey.  They had thought to cross to the Caribbean this season but have changed their minds and will return to the Med.  They have years of relaxed sailing to enjoy in the Med. 

Libertad, a Maramu

Libertad, the oldest Amel lady present

Next to Seraphine was USA flagged Libertad, a 33-year-old Maramu owned by Dennis and Virginia from California.  Libertad was the oldest Amel there.  Libertad will be crossing the Atlantic in company with the Atlantic Odyssey II next month.

Rhumb Runner, a Super Maramu 2000

Near Libertad was docked another Super Maramu 2000 named Rhumb Runner hailing from Plymouth, Great Britain, owned by Chris.  Rhumb Runner is crossing the Atlantic right now but not participating in any of the crossing rallies.  

Rainbow, an Amel 55

Down the dock on the same side as BeBe were 2 more Amels: another Amel 55 named Rainbow, hailing from Hamburg.  This boat was in and out so quickly that we never had an opportunity to speak with the owners.  

Now or Ever (or Now or Never), an Amel 54

And near Rainbow was an Amel 54 named Now or Ever, another USA flagged vessel, owned by an Italian.  Gian will be returning to his boat next month and sailing her to Antigua where he has purchased a home.  Gian has stated that the name of his boat really is Now or Never but the company which made the vessel name apparently did not comprehend the word 'never' and produced the incorrect name.  First time I have heard of that happening. An Italian explaining to a Frenchman what he wanted in English.  Yeah, easy to make a mistake.

SM Kerpepere II, a Super Maramu

On another dock was another Super Maramu.  This vessel was named SM Kerpepere II, French flagged and hailing from Lo (wherever that is, never heard of it).  I did not speak with these owners as they always seemed busy with one thing or another on their boat.

Tzigane, sloop rigged Santorin

Tzigane, sloop rigged Santorin

And, finally, several docks away was a French flagged Santorin named Tzigane.  The owners were away and we never met them.  This is a rare boat.  Tzigane is a sloop-rigged Santorin.  The Santorin model was produced from 1989 until 1997.  A total of 145 were built during those years and most of those boats were ketch-rigged.  There was an option to have it sloop-rigged but only a few were built that way.  Tzigane appeared to be in excellent condition.  

Kali Mera, Santorin ketch
Photo taken in Tenerife

We missed meeting up in Marina Lanzarote with Austrian friends Herbert and Teneta on their Santorin Kali Mera.  They had departed Rabat before us and were well ahead of us by this point.  We did later meet up with Herbert at the Santa Cruz marina on the island of Tenerife and enjoyed dinner with him right before he departed to Cape Verdes.  

Kali Mera, Santorin ketch
Photo taken in Tenerife

Kali Mera is the typical Amel ketch-rig and is in excellent condition.  She looks like the baby sister of BeBe.  The Santorin is 46-ft and the Super Maramu 2000 is ~53-ft and the 2 boats look identical, including electrical furling.  Although I think we have 2 more electric winches than was standard on the Santorin model.  The main saloon of the Santorin is a more comfortable living space than the saloon in a Super Maramu, but without all the storage space in a SM. If we did not own a SM2 then I would want a Santorin model.  

Running the wire for the hailer speaker.
He looks so comfortable perched way
up there.

Messenger line.  There were 2 of these lines
installed by Amel just in case an owner might
want to add something to the mast later.
Note those rubber spacers.  These were
tied about every 3 ft and kept the 2 lines
from twisting and entangling.

During the final days before departure of the Atlantic Odyysey I rally we took advantage of the communications expert that Cornell Sailing had flown in from Italy to make a presentation at the informative seminars.  He checked our SSB and VHF and found a couple of ways to tweak the SSB to optimize performance.  We have had no problems with the SSB all these years, but he knew a few tricks to produce even better reception and transmission.  What an invaluable service!  And......free!!  

Watching the wire being pulled through the mast

Bill decided to hire this company to run the wire through the mizzen mast so that we could install a hailer speaker, primary reason is to use this speaker as a fog horn via a feature of our VHF radio.  The messenger lines were already inside the mast, courtesy of Amel; and Bill could have done this work himself.  But since they had worked on our radios for free we felt like we should hire them for this simple job.  They ought to get some business out of their participation in the seminars and doing all those free radio checks for all the rally boats.

Bill, Zeyhra, Farma and Hassan;
dinner aboard BeBe

Hassan, Zeyhra and Fatma came for dinner aboard BeBe a few nights before we left Marina Lanzarote.  Zeyhra brought 2 Turkish vegetarian meze as appetizers and a traditional Turkish desert made from pumpkin.  All 3 dishes were simply delicious!  I need to take cooking lessons from Zehrya!  And Hassan gifted us with a bottle of red wine from the Anatolia region of Turkey that was divine; the best wine we have enjoyed in a long time. Wish we had discovered this particular wine when we were still in Turkey and could have stocked up.  The following morning Kandiba departed Lanzarote.  We would catch up with them again later.

Finally it was time for us to depart Lanzarote on 2 December.  We enjoyed a great 56 NM sail to Gran Tarajal Marina on the island of Fuerteventura where we stayed only overnight. 

At 04:00 the following morning we departed for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.  This was 81 NM to Las Palmas and we wanted to arrive during daylight, so even though there was sufficient wind to sail we ended up motor-sailing in order to make high enough speed to arrive before the marina office closed.

NOTE:  Because of a cyber-stalker who is behaving very childishly, we have been forced to monitor comments left by our readers.  Disappointing to be forced into moderating comments after 10 years of blogging about our sailing and travel adventures.  Because a grown man insists on behaving like an 8-year-old child.  So, apologies to all of you who know how to act like adults.